Written Answers Thursday 21 January 2010

Scottish Executive

Allotments

Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-29561 by John Swinney on 8 December 2009, whether tenants of local authority-owned allotments are required to institute legal proceedings to establish the legality of a local authority-made rule or device regulating the letting of allotments.

John Swinney: The first course of action would be for the allotment tenants to correspond with the local authority to try and resolve any differences. Should these remain unresolved, it would be for the allotment tenants to decide for themselves what further action, if any, to take.

Allotments

Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-28237 and S3W-29561 by John Swinney on 4 November and 8 December 2009 respectively, whether it is content that all local authorities are operating and managing their allotments with proper legal authority.

John Swinney: It is for local authorities as independent corporate bodies to ensure they are operating and managing their allotments with proper legal authority.

Allotments

Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-28237 and S3W-29561 by John Swinney on 4 November and 8 December 2009 respectively, what discussions it has had with local authorities in the last 10 years regarding the legal authority with which they are operating and managing their allotments.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government has no record of discussions with local authorities in the last 10 years regarding the legal authority with which they operate and manage their allotments. This is a matter for local authorities as independent corporate bodies.

Allotments

Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-28237 and S3W-29561 by John Swinney on 4 November and 8 December 2009 respectively, whether it will issue fresh guidance on the responsibilities and obligations of local authorities in relation to section 6(1) of the Allotments (Scotland) Act 1892 and take steps to ensure that all local authorities comply with all aspects of allotments legislation.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government has no plans to issue fresh guidance to local authorities on their responsibilities and obligations in relation to section 6(1) of the Allotments (Scotland) Act 1892. It is for local authorities as independent corporate bodies to ensure they operate and manage their allotments with proper legal authority.

Cancer

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the levels of spending on cancer treatment in Scotland in comparison with (a) England and (b) other EU member states.

Nicola Sturgeon: It is not possible to undertake such an assessment as funding of services for individuals is primarily the responsibility of NHS boards to plan, in light of the needs of their resident population. NHS boards allocate funding to services based on these needs from the unified budgets which are made available to them from the Scottish Executive.

Cancer

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of progress in implementing Better Cancer Care, An Action Plan .

Nicola Sturgeon: The implementation of Better Cancer Care: An Action Plan is overseen by the Scottish Cancer Taskforce. A number of sub groups have been established to take forward specific elements of the plan, including the Chemotherapy Advisory Group, the Scottish Radiotherapy Advisory Group, the Living with Cancer Group and the National Cancer Quality Steering Group. Each sub group provides an update of its progress at each Scottish Cancer Taskforce meeting and to date the taskforce has met five times.

  A detailed work plan has been developed by the Scottish Cancer Taskforce to monitor implementation of the commitments set out in Better Cancer Care. The four sub groups also have individual detailed work plans to outline the activities they are undertaking to deliver their specific work streams.

  More information on the work of the Scottish Cancer Taskforce and its constituent groups is available on the Scottish Government website at www.scotland.gov.uk/bettercancercare.

Central Heating

Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to extend the Home Insulation Scheme.

Alex Neil: The Scottish Government has included £15 million in the Budget Bill for 2010-11 which was introduced on 14 January 2010 and, subject to parliamentary approval, this will be available to support another round of Home Insulation Scheme areas. Decisions will be taken about the extent of the second phase of the scheme and the locations to be covered when the budget has been finalised and the level of funding has been confirmed.

Children and Young People

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are specifically identified champions or leaders in each local authority for commissioning good parenting programmes.

Adam Ingram: It is for local authorities and their partners (e.g. in the NHS) to make local decisions on commissioning parenting programmes. The Scottish Government recognises the crucial importance of parenting in the Early Years Framework. The framework highlights the importance of building the skills and capacity of parents, alongside its core themes of prevention, early identification of problems and early intervention.

  We are taking forward implementation of the framework with COSLA and Community Planning Partnerships.

Courts

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the new Framework Contract for the Provision of Interpreting, Translation and Transcription Services has improved the quality of interpretation services offered in courts.

Kenny MacAskill: Scottish Court Service (SCS) has responsibility for securing interpretation services in support of an accused person in criminal court proceedings.

  We are satisfied with the service and formal monitoring now forms part of the contract. The requirement within the contract to increase the numbers of interpreters with DPSI qualifications year on year will enhance quality levels.

Crime

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been convicted of shoplifting in each year since 1998-99, broken down by local authority area.

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what disposals have been applied to people caught shoplifting in each year since 1998-99, broken down by local authority area.

Kenny MacAskill: The available information is given in the following table:

  Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Shoplifting Crimes1 by Local Authority2 and Disposal 1998-99 to 2007-08

  

Local Authority/ Disposal
1998-99
1999-2000
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08


Aberdeen City 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
142
122
128
138
151
148
168
201
162
126


Community sentence
101
77
99
142
213
208
164
210
150
147


Monetary 
535
352
368
338
305
255
212
238
236
244


Other 
145
111
99
91
118
117
99
122
138
124


Total
923
662
694
709
787
728
643
771
686
641


Aberdeenshire 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
19
9
6
18
19
22
30
42
17
45


Community sentence
5
5
9
23
13
14
32
26
24
24


Monetary 
68
48
72
64
66
66
102
80
64
47


Other 
18
17
12
20
16
16
20
23
11
13


Total
110
79
99
125
114
118
184
171
116
129


Angus 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
8
7
19
26
24
13
17
36
54
45


Community sentence
20
9
6
17
16
11
10
16
32
28


Monetary 
43
49
45
38
34
33
24
50
75
43


Other 
7
18
16
23
28
28
19
12
32
39


Total
78
83
86
104
102
85
70
114
193
155


Argyll and Bute 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
8
-
3
3
6
10
10
2
5
7


Community sentence
1
3
9
3
3
5
1
6
6
9


Monetary 
30
15
8
20
17
15
12
8
6
8


Other 
12
13
6
3
6
16
11
6
6
3


Total
51
31
26
29
32
46
34
22
23
27


Clackmannanshire 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
1
4
6
27
31
13
12
10
18
12


Community sentence
2
7
16
12
17
15
34
25
34
46


Monetary 
11
16
24
23
25
38
31
39
53
44


Other 
2
3
4
19
8
7
15
9
14
12


Total
16
30
50
81
81
73
92
83
119
114


Dumfries and Galloway
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
44
33
69
60
98
73
83
78
70
49


Community sentence
18
24
36
34
51
55
53
45
81
44


Monetary 
44
51
80
38
55
47
43
39
45
45


Other 
20
25
30
30
34
41
10
17
35
30


Total
126
133
215
162
238
216
189
179
231
168


Dundee City 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
85
96
95
127
106
100
147
245
273
290


Community sentence
61
81
64
92
107
87
129
176
163
131


Monetary 
187
195
234
221
219
254
255
236
321
302


Other 
77
84
78
65
61
87
78
108
94
69


Total
410
456
471
505
493
528
609
765
851
792


East Ayrshire 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
5
44
163
204
157
161
166
172
161
173


Community sentence
4
10
25
41
78
88
96
127
106
92


Monetary 
12
26
94
81
103
101
94
102
109
90


Other 
2
1
19
27
35
39
40
42
44
61


Total
23
81
301
353
373
389
396
443
420
416


East Dunbartonshire
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
7
2
7
-
2
1
-
-
-
-


Community sentence
-
8
-
6
1
-
-
1
-
-


Monetary 
33
24
27
23
16
9
22
6
-
1


Other 
14
9
13
24
32
8
18
8
-
-


Total
54
43
47
53
51
18
40
15
-
1


East Lothian 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
3
1
1
7
13
6
6
1
7
12


Community sentence
1
1
5
6
10
7
6
2
4
2


Monetary 
14
15
17
17
37
16
12
3
16
20


Other 
5
3
5
4
2
3
3
5
6
6


Total
23
20
28
34
62
32
27
11
33
40


East Renfrewshire 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
-
-
-
1
-
1
-
-
-
1


Community sentence
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1
-
2


Monetary 
6
12
8
6
14
4
9
3
10
12


Other 
2
3
8
5
-
3
1
4
4
-


Total
8
15
16
12
14
8
10
8
14
15


Edinburgh, City of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
160
205
180
186
207
280
183
199
167
159


Community sentence
137
131
139
126
179
173
182
201
148
141


Monetary 
565
507
517
483
424
324
378
312
339
387


Other 
148
133
81
100
115
134
153
155
210
194


Total
1,010
976
917
895
925
911
896
867
864
881


Eilean Siar 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
-
4
1
1
-
2
2
-
-
2


Community sentence
1
-
1
1
-
-
-
-
3
1


Monetary 
8
3
2
4
5
5
3
-
9
3


Other 
3
3
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-


Total
12
10
5
7
5
7
5
-
12
6


Falkirk 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
70
76
89
115
123
91
72
52
52
53


Community sentence
20
40
57
69
49
36
43
50
82
61


Monetary 
95
99
106
110
83
59
110
49
69
48


Other 
36
36
38
40
62
64
70
42
43
85


Total
221
251
290
334
317
250
295
193
246
247


Fife 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
65
71
80
72
66
128
161
139
148
162


Community sentence
67
70
111
90
95
57
88
104
109
88


Monetary 
214
292
250
247
187
140
150
130
186
141


Other 
37
54
56
60
126
81
92
132
121
156


Total
383
487
497
469
474
406
491
505
564
547


Glasgow City 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
550
746
403
621
569
457
525
444
423
328


Community sentence
138
197
90
190
229
160
104
121
137
118


Monetary 
1,038
821
463
600
795
620
770
688
733
730


Other 
245
246
177
193
255
266
252
328
403
397


Total
1,971
2,010
1,133
1,604
1,848
1,503
1,651
1,581
1,696
1,573


Highland 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
34
36
37
34
57
41
58
55
69
50


Community sentence
22
24
21
26
47
28
45
51
48
63


Monetary 
105
105
82
124
110
131
110
124
112
71


Other 
22
29
17
22
39
36
23
45
43
55


Total
183
194
157
206
253
236
236
275
272
239


Inverclyde 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
112
87
82
105
145
93
52
34
29
28


Community sentence
80
67
61
39
43
72
64
23
21
25


Monetary 
38
51
39
53
56
32
35
27
17
27


Other 
48
43
30
41
49
46
41
41
35
43


Total
278
248
212
238
293
243
192
125
102
123


Midlothian 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Monetary 
27
26
32
30
30
17
19
23
34
18


Other 
5
5
6
6
6
6
2
2
1
7


Total
32
31
38
36
36
23
21
25
35
25


Moray 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
8
5
7
6
10
13
13
17
16
22


Community sentence
4
3
-
8
2
8
5
9
12
11


Monetary 
38
41
35
25
12
20
16
10
22
24


Other 
13
10
4
4
7
7
9
6
3
4


Total
63
59
46
43
31
48
43
42
53
61


North Ayrshire 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
-
-
-
-
-
1
-
-
-
-


Community sentence
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1
-
-


Monetary 
-
11
20
10
27
30
12
44
27
29


Other 
-
-
-
2
2
5
6
7
6
8


Total
-
11
20
12
29
36
18
52
33
37


North Lanarkshire 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
39
74
38
76
78
80
64
50
69
65


Community sentence
39
21
28
50
45
46
44
41
40
49


Monetary 
166
117
122
200
89
138
94
105
92
111


Other 
36
54
58
84
77
70
53
48
50
79


Total
280
266
246
410
289
334
255
244
251
304


Orkney Islands 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
-
3
-
-
-
1
-
-
-
-


Community sentence
-
-
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-


Monetary 
3
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
2
-


Other 
-
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-


Total
3
7
2
2
-
1
-
-
2
-


Perth and Kinross 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
29
17
32
39
40
43
35
39
50
54


Community sentence
38
24
36
39
33
49
43
45
44
27


Monetary 
60
84
76
89
83
83
79
77
111
114


Other 
45
25
22
25
23
26
36
36
31
35


Total
172
150
166
192
179
201
193
197
236
230


Renfrewshire 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
87
89
127
85
91
76
77
84
60
81


Community sentence
37
53
56
49
56
52
58
36
24
36


Monetary 
105
107
87
121
120
115
147
130
158
122


Other 
51
60
48
57
56
53
87
81
84
75


Total
280
309
318
312
323
296
369
331
326
314


Scottish Borders 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
3
5
3
17
10
22
27
25
13
25


Community sentence
6
7
4
11
6
9
8
8
11
5


Monetary 
21
29
26
23
21
28
48
42
44
24


Other 
12
10
6
8
9
9
14
8
15
16


Total
42
51
39
59
46
68
97
83
83
70


Shetland Islands 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
-
1
1
-
-
1
-
2
2
5


Community sentence
1
-
-
-
1
-
1
5
2
5


Monetary 
8
6
2
3
-
2
3
2
1
1


Other 
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
1
-
-


Total
10
7
3
3
1
3
4
10
5
11


South Ayrshire 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
65
108
159
190
169
140
137
79
105
104


Community sentence
35
32
63
73
64
78
73
46
34
40


Monetary 
73
85
89
65
71
48
61
29
35
37


Other 
33
30
43
77
85
51
55
46
27
36


Total
206
255
354
405
389
317
326
200
201
217


South Lanarkshire 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
50
88
108
83
152
138
157
144
107
138


Community sentence
39
45
54
56
106
97
108
68
64
57


Monetary 
94
122
147
149
154
122
113
99
98
140


Other 
26
49
46
62
75
72
71
75
98
104


Total
209
304
355
350
487
429
449
386
367
439


Stirling 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
19
16
61
65
47
44
49
37
38
46


Community sentence
13
52
60
61
53
42
64
27
28
29


Monetary 
20
47
47
43
28
57
52
48
56
59


Other 
7
16
24
37
33
24
32
34
41
47


Total
59
131
192
206
161
167
197
146
163
181


West Dunbartonshire
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
61
80
76
75
66
84
68
77
63
57


Community sentence
42
30
20
32
23
27
26
31
29
31


Monetary 
72
85
75
76
67
66
55
29
52
74


Other 
52
36
30
37
46
47
36
16
24
39


Total
227
231
201
220
202
224
185
153
168
201


West Lothian 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
7
7
14
38
51
40
53
36
40
48


Community sentence
16
6
10
38
30
54
66
37
63
55


Monetary 
62
109
92
103
94
71
78
70
58
69


Other 
10
9
5
17
12
13
13
20
21
30


Total
95
131
121
196
187
178
210
163
182
202


Scotland3
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Custody 
1,682
2,037
1,995
2,419
2,492
2,324
2,372
2,302
2,219
2,187


Community sentence
948
1,027
1,081
1,335
1,570
1,478
1,547
1,539
1,499
1,367


Monetary 
3,795
3,553
3,286
3,427
3,347
2,946
3,149
2,842
3,190
3,086


Other 
1,134
1,136
983
1,185
1,417
1,375
1,359
1,479
1,640
1,767


Total
7,559
7,753
7,345
8,366
8,826
8,123
8,427
8,162
8,548
8,407



  Notes:

  1. Where main offence.

  2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Four local authority areas, namely East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court.

  3. Contains a small number of cases where local authority is unknown.

Crime

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many of the fines issued in shoplifting cases have been collected and (b) what their value has been in each of the last 10 years, broken down by local authority area.

Kenny MacAskill: The information requested is not held centrally.

Crime

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the report of a BBC investigation, Crime gangs "dominate shop theft", on the BBC website on 11 January 2010, what assessment it has made of the finding that organised crime gangs are behind more than half of all shoplifting in the United Kingdom.

Kenny MacAskill: Combating serious organised crime and tackling organised crime groups is a top priority for the Scottish Government and the Scottish Police Service. The recent serious organised crime mapping project led by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) suggested that of the 367 serious organised crime groups identified in Scotland, only 42 were involved in theft, mainly motor vehicle and plant theft. Using additional resources allocated by the government the SCDEA will further develop intelligence on the scale and extent of serious organised crime in Scotland including the types of crime the groups are involved in. This will help the police target those individuals and groups causing the greatest harm to Scotland’s communities. The investigation of crime is of course an operational matter for the police.

Crime

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the report of a BBC investigation, Crime gangs "dominate shop theft", on the BBC website on 11 January 2010, what assessment it has made of the finding that the United Kingdom’s biggest shoplifting team is linked with Scotland’s most notorious crime family.

Kenny MacAskill: The investigation of specific crimes including identification of suspects is an operational matter for the police.

Crime

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to tackle the link between shoplifting and organised crime.

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the report of a BBC investigation, Criminals "winning the shoplifting war", on the BBC website on 11 January 2010, what action it is taking to address the finding that more than half of all shoplifting offences are now carried out by criminal gangs that operate professional and organised shoplifting teams.

Kenny MacAskill: The Serious Organised Crime Taskforce published its organised crime strategy on June 2009 ( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/01144911/0 ).

  This sets out a programme of work to tackle serious organised crime in all its forms.

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on residential drug and alcohol treatment facilities, such as Castle Craig Hospital, running under capacity, given that, as of September 2009, 8% of individuals still waiting for a first drug treatment appointment had waited for over a year.

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on Castle Craig Hospital running under capacity, given that, as of September 2009, over 40% of individuals in Midlothian and East Lothian still waiting for a first drug treatment appointment had waited for over 26 weeks.

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on residential drug and alcohol treatment facilities, such as Castle Craig Hospital, running under capacity, given that, as of September 2009, 25% of individuals still waiting for a residential rehabilitation place had been waiting for between five and eight weeks and 45% had been waiting for between nine and 26 weeks.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Government provides funding via NHS health boards, for treatment and support services. Decisions on spend – including for residential rehabilitation services are made at a local level by alcohol and drug partnerships taking into account local assessment of need and priorities as set out in our Framework for Action "Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol" and the framework for local partnerships on alcohol and drugs. As such, decisions on residential rehabilitation will be made locally.

  Decisions on treatment should not be driven by the under capacity of a private residential facility but instead, by the needs of the client. Someone waiting for their first appointment for drug treatment does not necessarily mean they are requiring residential rehabilitation.

  Residential rehabilitation is one of a number of treatments. Decisions on the most appropriate treatment for individual patients are taken by clinicians, in consultation with their patient, who determine the most appropriate form of treatment, taking account of the needs and circumstances of the individual. Their aim is to ensure that the treatment package will provide the most effective support for the individual concerned.

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on residential drug and alcohol treatment facilities, such as Castle Craig Hospital, running under capacity given the finding of a gap between need and service availability in the report, Scottish Alcohol Needs Assessment , with on average one in 12 people able to access treatment services.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Alcohol Needs Assessment report (published by the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams) mapped the number of publically funded alcohol treatment provision falling within Tiers 2, 3 and 4 modalities of care as defined by models of Care for Alcohol Misusers (The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, 2006). It identified 97 services in Scotland in 2006-07 as providing specialist alcohol interventions of which 10 were residential agencies and the remainder (87) were community-based. The majority (59.4%) provided services for both drug and alcohol misusers and 37.5% provided exclusively alcohol services.

  The provision of services is for each local area to consider, taking account of local needs, circumstances and resources. It is for individual NHS boards, local authorities and alcohol and drug partnerships (ADPs) to ensure that appropriate health care services are provided to meet the needs of their resident populations.

  The Scottish Government provides funding via NHS health boards, for treatment and support services. Decisions on spend – including for residential rehabilitation services are made at a local level by alcohol and drug partnerships taking into account local assessment of need and priorities as set out in our framework for Action "Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol" and the framework for local partnerships on alcohol and drugs. As such, decisions on residential rehabilitation will be made locally.

  The Scottish Government allocated £36 million via NHS health boards for tackling alcohol misuse in 2009-10 and £28 million for tackling drug misuse.

  Decisions on the most appropriate treatment for individual patients are taken by clinicians, in consultation with their patient, who determine the most appropriate form of treatment, taking account of the needs and circumstances of each patient. Their aim is to ensure that the treatment package will provide the most effective support for the individual concerned.

Economy

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs its Economic Recovery Plan is supporting, broken down by sector.

John Swinney: Through the Economic Recovery Plan the Scottish Government is ensuring that every area of Government activity supports our commitment to economic recovery and delivering long-term sustainable growth by: supporting jobs and our communities; strengthening Scotland’s education and skills, and investing in innovation and the industries of the future.

  The Economic Recovery Plan is estimated to support employment in all sectors of the Scottish economy. For example, the accelerated capital spending programme is estimated to support over 3,000 jobs in construction, over 800 in manufacturing, and over 750 in finance and business. The acceleration of European Structural Funds is estimated to support approximately 8,000 jobs across all sectors of the economy, through ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) funding for new projects. Other projects, supported by the European Social Fund (ESF), are assisting people back into employment. This spend is targeted primarily at individuals rather than specific industries.

  Action has also been directed at particular sectors. For example, support for Homecoming has helped generate additional activity in tourism related sectors such as hotels, catering and retail and is estimated to have supported around 1,000 jobs.

  Other interventions such as support for skills development through ScotAction, and our actions to help those who have been made redundant are not directed at any particular sector, but are about providing general support for the economy and jobs as a whole.

Economy

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the First Minister’s statement in the chamber on 10 December 2009 that accelerated capital spending was part of the recovery programme that generated 5,000 jobs ( Official Report c. 22094), what the breakdown is of this figure by sector.

John Swinney: Estimates of the employment impacts of the accelerated capital spending programme have been produced using the Scottish Government input-output model. The budget for 2009-10 accelerates £293 million of capital spending into 2009-10, in addition to £53 million accelerated into 2008-09. In total, it is estimated that this accelerated capital investment will support over 5,000 jobs in the Scottish economy over the period.

  The Scottish input-output model provides estimates of impacts by industry sector, and shows that of the 5,000 jobs supported, over 3,000 jobs are in the construction sector. It is estimated that the programme will also have significant employment impacts throughout the Scottish economy, including manufacturing (over 800 jobs), finance and business (over 750 jobs), distribution and catering (around 140 jobs), and transport and communication (around 120 jobs). The remaining jobs are spread across other sectors of the economy such as agriculture, forestry and fishing; energy and water, and other services.

Education

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that the co-operative business model is included in the Determined to Succeed programme.

Keith Brown: The Scottish Government, through its Determined to Succeed (DtS) strategy, has provided £60,000 funding for Co-operative Education Trust Scotland (CETS) during its two-year pilot stage (July 2005-07) to support the work and future development of educational resources under its "Co-operate to Succeed" banner.

Energy

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what estimated proportion of households defaulted on energy bill payments in the last 12 months.

Alex Neil: Information on the proportion of households who defaulted on energy bill payments in the last 12 months is not held centrally.

Fire Safety

Michael Matheson (Falkirk West) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration is being given to increasing the number of buildings that require to have fire sprinkler systems installed.

Fergus Ewing: An automatic fire suppression system such as a sprinkler system is required in new enclosed shopping centres and as a result of the Building Regulation changes which were introduced on 1 May 2005, in all new residential care buildings; sheltered housing complexes, and high rise domestic buildings. Over and above this level of provision, it is proposed to require all new school buildings in Scotland to have sprinkler systems installed from October 2010.

  There are currently no proposals to make sprinklers compulsory in existing buildings.

Further Education

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated number of students is in each local authority area who travel at least (a) 20 and (b) 50 miles to their further education institution.

Michael Russell: The following table provides an estimate of the number of Scottish domiciled students attending Scottish Colleges whose home address is (a) 20 miles or more from their college of enrolment and (b) 50 miles or more from their college of enrolment. This is a straight line distance and does not necessarily imply that the student travels this distance to attend college on a daily basis.

  Table 1: Number of Students whose Home Address is (a) 20 Miles or more and (b) 50 Miles or more to their College of Enrolment by Local Authority: Academic Year 2007-08

  

Local Authority
Distance Travelled
Percentage of all Students


20 miles or more
50 miles or more
20 miles or more
50 miles or more


Aberdeen
1,271
973
10
7


Aberdeenshire
5,113
1,052
22
4


Angus
1,297
519
12
5


Argyll and Bute
2,972
1,057
53
19


Clackmannanshire
507
112
17
4


Dumfries and Galloway
3,449
1,403
30
12


Dundee
1,272
743
11
6


East Ayrshire
1,196
350
16
5


East Dunbartonshire
495
150
7
2


East Lothian
982
291
22
7


East Renfrewshire
387
111
8
2


Edinburgh
1,618
924
7
4


Eilean Siar
660
511
34
26


Falkirk
1,340
334
16
4


Fife
3,509
1,151
9
3


Glasgow
3,005
775
6
2


Highlands
4,088
2,779
35
24


Inverclyde
734
267
11
4


Midlothian
373
184
9
5


Moray
1,406
614
31
14


North Ayrshire
2,038
604
21
6


North Lanarkshire
1,527
433
7
2


Orkney Islands
381
218
15
9


Perth and Kinross
1,946
605
25
8


Renfrewshire
457
321
4
3


Scottish Borders
2,178
423
33
6


Shetland Islands
771
368
20
10


South Ayrshire
1,133
299
20
5


South Lanarkshire
2,080
503
13
3


Stirling
1,248
227
27
5


West Dunbartonshire
437
289
5
4


West Lothian
1,047
301
11
3


Total
50,917
18,891
14
5



  Notes:

  1 Data provided by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). Both Further and Higher Education are included.

  2 Distance travelled is the straight line distance between home postcode of student and postcode of college campus attended. It does not imply that students undertake the travel daily.

  3 Local authority is derived from the home postcode of student. Students domiciled outside of Scotland or whose postcode is unknown are excluded from this analysis. There were 7,776 such students in 2007-08.

Health

Jackson Carlaw (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of variations in access to medicines across Scotland.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring equitable access to medicines across Scotland, based on clinical need. The Scottish Government expect NHS boards and clinicians to take full account of Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) and NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) recommendations in the planning and provision of NHS services. Where there is evidence that an SMC or NHS QIS accepted medicine (or its equivalent) is not being made available, these will be addressed directly with the NHS board concerned in order that appropriate action is taken where necessary.

Higher Education

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what support it gives to undergraduates taking up internships.

Michael Russell: The support provided by the Scottish Government to all undergraduates, including those who take up internships is publicly available at the following websites:

  The Student Awards Agency for Scotland website:

  http://www.saas.gov.uk/student_support/scottish_inside/2001_or_later/financial_support.htm.

  and the Scottish Government website:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Funding-Support-Grants/FFL/yourguidetofunding0910.

Homelessness

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to carry out a field survey to ascertain the number of rough sleepers.

Alex Neil: Figures on rough sleeping are now collected by local authorities through the HL1 form. Applicants are asked if they slept rough the night before applying for assistance. The HL1 form data has the advantage of providing data from 2002 which enables changes to be tracked over a period of time. Using the HL1 form data is the most efficient way of looking at the long-term trends in the number of rough sleepers.

Homelessness

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the last field survey of rough sleepers was carried out.

Alex Neil: The last survey of rough sleepers was carried out in 2003, coinciding with the then Scottish Executive’s target to eliminate the need to sleep rough by 2003. The Scottish Government no longer carries out twice yearly rough sleeper counts. Figures on rough sleeping are now collected by local authorities through the HL1 form. Applicants are asked if they slept rough the night before applying for assistance. In 2008-09, 5% of applicants slept rough the night before applying for assistance.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost will be of houses provided under national housing trust proposals.

Alex Neil: The upfront purchase price of any houses provided under the National Housing Trust proposals would depend on the outcome of a public procurement exercise under which any bids would be assessed to ensure they offer good value for public money, and good quality homes of the right type in suitable locations. This price could vary significantly depending on geographical location and size of property. Modelling for the business case assumed an average property price of around £137,000 including Stamp Duty Land Tax and other purchase costs. It is expected, however, that the majority of homes would be purchased for less than this amount.

Justice

Angela Constance (Livingston) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it is giving to the needs of veterans in the criminal justice system.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government appreciates that it can be difficult for some former Service personnel to make the transition from military to civilian life. The Scottish Government continues to work with and provide funding to Scottish veterans’ organisations to provide support to ex-Service personnel to help tackle the difficulties and problems they can face to try to avoid coming into conflict with the criminal justice system in the first place.

  The Scottish criminal justice system is able to take into account the individual circumstances of all those that it deals with. For example, access to legal advice and disposals and programmes aimed at offenders with specific needs such as treatment for drug addiction. Those who are sentenced to imprisonment are able to access a wide variety of support services.

Legal Aid

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent it plans to follow changes made to the system of legal aid in England to comply with the access to justice provisions in the Aarhus Convention.

Fergus Ewing: The current legal aid system in Scotland is compliant with the Aarhus convention.

  Civil legal aid, which provides for representation before a court, may be available provided that the three tests contained in the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 are met: applicants must qualify financially, must have a legal basis for their case and it must be reasonable in the particular circumstances of the case that legal aid is provided.

Older People

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what services are available to older people who are housebound due to the current weather conditions to enable them to purchase groceries and other essential items.

Shona Robison: Local authorities, health boards, voluntary organisations and private care providers are working hard to ensure that housebound people receive the help they need during the severe weather conditions, including assistance with purchasing groceries and other essential items. The Scottish Government, local authorities and voluntary organisations are publicising the help available as set out in my answer to question S3W-30510 on 18 January 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

Older People

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what emergency funding is available to ensure that no older person is unable to access key services due to the current weather conditions.

Shona Robison: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) provide cold weather payments to those in receipt of income related benefits, including pension credit, when specified criteria are met. Payments of £25 are made when the area in which the person lives is, or is forecasted to be, zero degrees celsius or below for a period of seven consecutive days. Payments are made automatically to those who qualify. As with all DWP benefits the policy on cold weather payments is reserved to the UK Government.

  As for local authority and health board funding for the delivery of key services during the severe weather, both are expected to deal with some rise and fall in expenditure demands within the money allocated to them by the Scottish Government.

Ports and Harbours

Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the condition of docks and wharfs since 1999.

Stewart Stevenson: Scottish ministers have no responsibility for assessing the condition of port assets. However, individual port operators and owners with statutory powers would be expected to review their condition on a regular basis to ensure that they comply with their obligations to maintain their harbours.

Post Office

Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many co-locations of (a) post offices with public sector bodies and (b) public services in post offices have been set up and are now in operation, broken down by local authority area.

Jim Mather: The information is not held centrally.

Rail Services

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Transport Scotland has made an assessment of the environmental benefits of retaining direct London to Glasgow rail services on the east coast main line.

Stewart Stevenson: No. However, we are committed to modal shift from road/air to rail and the environmental benefits that it brings, thereby helping to achieve our 42% cut in emissions as set out in our world leading Climate Change (Scotland) Act. We therefore wish to see maximum rail travel opportunities between Scotland and English cities, including London.

Renewable Energy

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its press release of 8 January 2010, Step forward for renewables, what the remit of John Sturrock QC will be as facilitator.

Jim Mather: Scottish ministers are working to find productive ways forward on the issue of locational transmission charging for use of the electricity grid system by Scottish generators. We are determined to deliver a more equitable and transparent charging regime and which reduces the scope of the disparity in charging between parts of the GB network. As part of our ongoing dialogue on this issue, I hosted a discussion with Ofgem, National Grid, Scottish energy generators and other interests on 18 January 2010.

  The Scottish Government regularly engages appropriate unaligned expert and technical advice and expertise. In this context, Professor John Sturrock QC’s remit was to independently facilitate the discussion and assist in identifying ways to address the impact of a changing pattern of generation on the grid system and transmission charging.

Renewable Energy

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its press release of 8 January 2010, Step forward for renewables, whether John Sturrock QC will complete a report on the discussions held on 18 January 2010 and whether his role as facilitator will extend beyond his participation in the meeting.

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its press release of 8 January 2010, Step forward for renewables, to whom John Sturrock QC will report on his involvement as facilitator.

Jim Mather: A summary report of the discussion on the 18 January 2010 has been prepared and published on the Scottish Government website:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/Infrastructure/TransmissionCharging.

  As a result of the discussions, the Scottish Government will now work to publish options for change to the existing system of grid charging, which will be subject to full consultation.

  If follow up discussions prove to be necessary as this progresses, I will engage the relevant experience and experience required and at that stage.

Renewable Energy

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its press release of 8 January 2010, Step forward for renewables , whether John Sturrock QC will be retained following his role as facilitator.

Jim Mather: I refer the member to the answers to questions S3W-30634 and S3W-30635 on 21 January 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Renewable Energy

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its press release of 8 January 2010, Step forward for renewables, whether payment has been offered to John Sturrock QC for his role as facilitator.

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its press release of 8 January 2010, Step forward for renewables, from what budget any remuneration to John Sturrock QC will be taken.

Jim Mather: Professor John Sturrock QC will receive the standard fee, as negotiated with Core Solutions, for his services as facilitator of the Energy Session on transmission charging, held on 18 January 2010. This will be met out of the Scottish Government Energy Policy budget.

Respite Care

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated to each local authority for additional respite needs for (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Government is providing an extra £4.19 million to local authorities on top of the overall settlement to enable local authorities to deliver in full by 2010-11 the commitment in the concordat to progress towards delivering 10,000 extra respite weeks. This additional funding is being provided to local authorities in 2009-10 and 2010-11.

  The whole 2010-11 local government finance settlement is provisional until the Parliament approves both the overall 2010-11 Scottish Budget Bill and the Local Government Finance Order 2010.

  The allocations for 2009-10 and 2010-11, broken down by authority, are provided in the following table:

  Additional Allocation to Deliver 10,000 Additional Respite Weeks (additional to Concordat Funding for this Commitment) (£ Million)

  

Local Authority
2009-10
2010-11


Aberdeen City
0.053
0.109


Aberdeenshire
0.056
0.116


Angus
0.031
0.065


Argyll and Bute
0.027
0.055


Clackmannanshire
0.012
0.026


Dumfries and Galloway
0.044
0.092


Dundee City
0.044
0.089


East Ayrshire
0.033
0.069


East Dunbartonshire
0.025
0.051


East Lothian
0.026
0.053


East Renfrewshire
0.021
0.044


Edinburgh (City of)
0.118
0.242


Eilean Siar
0.009
0.018


Falkirk
0.039
0.080


Fife
0.098
0.203


Glasgow City
0.165
0.332


Highland
0.057
0.118


Inverclyde
0.024
0.049


Midlothian
0.020
0.041


Moray
0.023
0.047


North Ayrshire
0.038
0.079


North Lanarkshire
0.082
0.168


Orkney Islands
0.006
0.012


Perth and Kinross
0.040
0.083


Renfrewshire
0.045
0.092


Scottish Borders
0.032
0.065


Shetland Islands
0.006
0.012


South Ayrshire
0.034
0.070


South Lanarkshire
0.081
0.168


Stirling
0.022
0.045


West Dunbartonshire
0.026
0.053


West Lothian
0.035
0.074


Scotland
1.370
2.820

Rural Development

David Whitton (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what support it provided to assist farmers during the recent winter freeze.

Richard Lochhead: Scottish Government was immediately in direct contact with the farming community and its representatives as soon as the bad weather started. This included phoning farmers in the worst affected areas every day.

  I chaired a meeting on 11 January with rural stakeholders where the collapse of sheds was identified as the single biggest ongoing issue. We have now established a working group of stakeholders to look at this further.

  We have provided guidance on spreading slurry on frozen ground; we suspended our inspection programme; we supported the relaxation on enforcement for drivers’ hours for groups supplying essential rural supplies; extended the deadline for applications for rural priorities, and offered the use of the 224 4x4 vehicles owned by rural public bodies.

  The farming community coped well in difficult circumstances and often went the extra mile to help each other.

Rural Development

Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many projects supporting the environment and rural economy of Angus there have been since 2007; how much was invested in them, and what the employment benefit has been.

Richard Lochhead: Under the Scotland Rural Development Programme around 360 projects have been approved to date in the Tayside Region (which includes Angus) under the Rural Priorities and LEADER delivery mechanisms. It is not always possible to break this information down for specific areas such as Angus. This means that around £23 million of additional funding is entering the local economy.

Student Finance

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many students applied for (a) childcare support, (b) a Lone Parent’s Childcare Grant and (c) a Lone Parent’s Grant in the (i) further and (ii) higher education sectors in each of the last three years, broken down by (A) Scottish Parliament constituency, (B) Scottish Parliament region, (C) local authority area and (D) UK Parliament constituency.

Michael Russell: Further Education (FE)

  Childcare support for further education students is only available through the FE Childcare Fund. Information on applications to this fund is not held centrally. However, the total number of students supported through this fund is collected from colleges by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). Although a collection of individual identifying details of students assisted through this fund is in place, the data quality for previous years is not sufficient to allow a geographical breakdown to be produced. Data collection for academic year 2008-09 is not yet complete. The following table shows the number of students who were assisted through the FE Childcare Fund in academic years 2006-07 and 2007-08.

  Table 1: Number of Students Assisted through the FE Childcare Fund

  

Academic Year
 


2006-07
3,255


2007-08
3,535



  Source: Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collection from colleges.

  1. Student numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest five: e.g. one, two round to zero; three, four round to five.

  Higher Education

  Support for higher education (HE) students who are parents is available through the HE Childcare Fund, the Lone Parents’ Grant and Lone Parents’ Childcare Grant. In addition, a small number of students receive support for childcare through the other HE Discretionary Funds though this is not their main purpose. These support streams are mainly for full-time undergraduate or Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) students.

  Table 2 shows the total number of applications for assistance through the Higher Education (HE) Childcare Fund, the number of instances of assistance through this fund and the number of instances of assistance for childcare through the other HE Discretionary Funds for academic years 2006-07 and 2007-08.

  Individual identifying details of students receiving help from the HE Childcare and Discretionary Funds are not held centrally. As it is possible that a student may receive help more than once from each fund there may be a degree of double counting in the management information. We therefore report the number of applications and instances of assistance from each fund rather than the number of students assisted. It is also possible that a student may receive help from more than one fund therefore there may be an additional element of double counting in Table 2. The lack of individual details also means that it is not possible to produce a geographical breakdown of students.

  Table 2: Applications for assistance and instances of assistance through the HE Childcare Fund; instances of assistance for childcare support through the other HE Discretionary Funds – academic years 2006-07 and 2007-08:

  

Academic Year
Applications for Childcare Support through the HE Childcare Fund
Instances of Assistance for Childcare Support through HE Childcare Fund
Instances of assistance for childcare support through other Higher Education Discretionary Funds


2006-07
1,690
1,545
335


2007-08
1,685
1,480
575



  Source: Management information provided to Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) by institutions.

  1. Applications and instances of assistance have been rounded up or down to the nearest 5 e.g. one, two round to zero; three, four round to five.

  Information on the number of applicants for Lone Parents’ Grant and Lone Parents’ Childcare Grant is not held centrally. However, tables 3 to 6 provide information on the number of higher education students receiving Lone Parents’ Grant in academic years 2006-07 to 2008-09 by Scottish parliamentary constituency, Scottish parliamentary region, local authority and Westminster parliamentary constituency. Tables 7 to 10 provide the same breakdowns for students receiving Lone Parents’ Childcare Grant in the three academic years.

  Table 3: Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Grant by Scottish Parliamentary Constituency – Academic Years 2006-07 to 2008-09

  

Scottish Parliamentary Constituency
Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Grant


2006-07
2007-08
2008-09


Total
3,025
2,920
2,630


Not found/missing
45
50
45


Aberdeen Central
45
40
30


Aberdeen North
35
25
25


Aberdeen South
30
25
25


Airdrie and Shotts
65
60
50


Angus
65
55
50


Argyll and Bute
15
15
20


Ayr
55
55
45


Banff and Buchan
35
30
25


Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
<5
5
10


Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley
40
40
40


Central Fife
70
70
60


Clydebank and Milngavie
60
50
40


Clydesdale
40
35
30


Coatbridge and Chryston
85
60
60


Cumbernauld and Kilsyth
55
55
55


Cunninghame North
55
50
45


Cunninghame South
75
70
45


Dumbarton
35
30
30


Dumfries
35
35
20


Dundee East
80
90
80


Dundee West
70
70
60


Dunfermline East
30
20
30


Dunfermline West
35
30
30


East Kilbride
60
50
60


East Lothian
35
35
25


Eastwood
25
30
35


Edinburgh Central
30
35
30


Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
30
25
20


Edinburgh North and Leith
40
45
40


Edinburgh Pentlands
30
35
35


Edinburgh South
35
40
30


Edinburgh West
20
30
20


Falkirk East
50
45
45


Falkirk West
45
45
50


Galloway and Upper Nithsdale
25
10
10


Glasgow Anniesland
50
40
45


Glasgow Baillieston
40
45
45


Glasgow Cathcart
45
55
40


Glasgow Govan
30
35
45


Glasgow Kelvin
50
40
45


Glasgow Maryhill
35
40
25


Glasgow Pollok
45
35
45


Glasgow Rutherglen
30
45
30


Glasgow Shettleston
45
40
35


Glasgow Springburn
45
45
50


Gordon
30
25
15


Greenock and Inverclyde
55
70
45


Hamilton North and Bellshill
40
50
40


Hamilton South
40
35
25


Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber
25
25
35


Kilmarnock and Loudoun
70
60
65


Kirkcaldy
40
35
35


Linlithgow
35
30
15


Livingston
45
50
45


Midlothian
40
40
25


Moray
55
50
35


Motherwell and Wishaw
60
45
45


North East Fife
60
45
35


North Tayside
40
40
45


Ochil
35
35
40


Orkney Islands
-
<5
<5


Paisley North
70
50
50


Paisley South
65
60
60


Perth
35
40
35


Ross, Skye and Inverness West
25
30
30


Roxburgh and Berwickshire
5
5
10


Shetland Islands
<5
5
<5


Stirling
30
40
30


Strathkelvin and Bearsden
45
40
35


Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale
20
20
20


West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
30
25
25


West Renfrewshire
35
35
30


Western Isles
10
10
5



  Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS)

  1. Student numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest five: e.g. one, two round to zero; three, four round to five.

  2. Cells containing less than five cases are represented by "<5".

  3. Cells containing zero cases are represented by a dash.

  4. Students with postcodes which are missing or which do not match with those of the geographical breakdown show are included in the "Not found/missing" category.

  Table 4: Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Grant by Scottish Parliamentary Region – Academic Years 2006-07 to 2008-09

  

Scottish Parliament Region
Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Grant


2006-07
2007-08
2008-09


Total
3,025
2,920
2,630


Not found/missing
45
50
45


Central Scotland
570
510
490


Glasgow
410
420
405


Highlands and Islands
135
140
135


Lothians
300
330
260


Mid Scotland and Fife
370
360
345


North East Scotland
420
380
340


South of Scotland
330
305
245


West of Scotland
440
420
370



  Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS)

  1. Student numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest five: e.g. one, two round to zero; three, four round to five.

  2. Cells containing less than five cases are represented by "<5".

  3. Cells containing zero cases are represented by a dash.

  4. Students with postcodes which are missing or which do not match with those of the geographical breakdown show are included in the "Not found/missing" category.

  Table 5: Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Grant by Local Authority – academic years 2006-07 to 2008-09

  

Local Authority
Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Grant


2006-07
2007-08
2008-09


Total
3,025
2,920
2,630


Not found/missing
40
50
45


Aberdeen City
110
85
80


Aberdeenshire
95
75
70


Angus
80
70
75


Argyll and Bute
25
20
20


Clackmannanshire
20
20
30


Dumfries and Galloway
60
45
30


Dundee City
150
165
140


East Ayrshire
85
80
80


East Dunbartonshire
55
45
45


East Lothian
40
40
30


East Renfrewshire
25
30
35


City of Edinburgh
180
205
170


Eilean Siar
10
10
5


Falkirk
100
90
100


Fife
235
205
190


Glasgow City
390
385
380


Highland
55
60
70


Inverclyde
75
85
65


Midlothian
50
50
30


Moray
55
50
35


North Ayrshire
130
120
90


North Lanarkshire
285
250
230


Orkney Islands
-
<5
<5


Perth and Kinross
70
70
60


Renfrewshire
145
130
120


Scottish Borders
20
15
25


Shetland Islands
<5
5
<5


South Ayrshire
75
75
70


South Lanarkshire
175
175
145


Stirling
35
55
35


West Dunbartonshire
80
70
60


West Lothian
75
75
65



  Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS)

  1. Student numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest five: e.g. one, two round to zero; three, four round to five.

  2. Cells containing less than five cases are represented by "<5".

  3. Cells containing zero cases are represented by a dash.

  4. Students with postcodes which are missing or which do not match with those of the geographical breakdown show are included in the "Not found/missing" category.

  Table 6: Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Grant by Westminster Parliamentary Constituency – academic years 2006-07 to 2008-09

  

Westminster Parliamentary Constituency
Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Grant


2006-07
2007-08
2008-09


Total
3,025
2,920
2,630


Not found/missing
45
50
45


Aberdeen North
70
45
45


Aberdeen South
30
30
30


Airdrie and Shotts
65
60
50


Angus
55
50
60


Argyll and Bute
25
20
20


Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock
60
55
55


Banff and Buchan
40
35
30


Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
15
10
15


Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
<5
5
10


Central Ayrshire
80
70
55


Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
95
75
70


Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
70
70
70


Dumfries and Galloway
35
25
15


Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
35
30
25


Dundee East
90
90
75


Dundee West
80
90
75


Dunfermline and West Fife
45
35
35


East Dunbartonshire
35
30
25


East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow
70
55
60


East Lothian
40
40
30


East Renfrewshire
25
30
35


Edinburgh East
30
30
25


Edinburgh North and Leith
45
50
40


Edinburgh South
35
40
35


Edinburgh South West
45
55
45


Edinburgh West
25
35
25


Falkirk
70
65
65


Glasgow Central
55
50
55


Glasgow East
50
60
60


Glasgow North
45
45
35


Glasgow North East
55
50
60


Glasgow North West
70
55
60


Glasgow South
55
70
55


Glasgow South West
55
55
60


Glenrothes
75
80
75


Gordon
30
25
20


Inverclyde
75
85
65


Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
40
40
45


Kilmarnock and Loudoun
70
65
70


Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
50
40
45


Lanark and Hamilton East
55
55
40


Linlithgow and East Falkirk
55
55
50


Livingston
45
50
45


Midlothian
50
50
30


Moray
55
50
35


Motherwell and Wishaw
75
65
60


Na h-Eileanan an Iar
10
10
5


North Ayrshire and Arran
80
80
60


North East Fife
65
50
40


Ochil and South Perthshire
35
35
45


Orkney and Shetland
<5
10
5


Paisley and Renfrewshire North
55
45
50


Paisley and Renfrewshire South
90
85
75


Perth and North Perthshire
50
55
45


Ross, Skye and Lochaber
10
15
20


Rutherglen and Hamilton West
50
60
45


Stirling
35
55
35


West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
30
25
25


West Dunbartonshire
80
70
60



  Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS)

  1. Student numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest five: e.g. one, two round to zero; three, four round to five.

  2. Cells containing less than five cases are represented by "<5".

  3. Cells containing zero cases are represented by a dash.

  4. Students with postcodes which are missing or which do not match with those of the geographical breakdown show are included in the "Not found/missing" category.

  Table 7: Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Childcare Grant by Scottish Parliamentary Constituency – Academic Years 2006-07 to 2008-09

  

Scottish Parliamentary Constituency
Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Childcare Grant


2006-07
2007-08
2008-09


Total
1,415
1,375
1,285


Not found/missing
20
25
35


Aberdeen Central
25
20
15


Aberdeen North
20
10
10


Aberdeen South
15
10
15


Airdrie and Shotts
30
25
25


Angus
30
25
20


Argyll and Bute
5
5
10


Ayr
25
20
20


Banff and Buchan
20
15
10


Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
<5
<5
5


Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley
15
15
15


Central Fife
35
40
35


Clydebank and Milngavie
30
30
20


Clydesdale
15
15
5


Coatbridge and Chryston
30
25
30


Cumbernauld and Kilsyth
30
30
30


Cunninghame North
30
25
25


Cunninghame South
35
35
25


Dumbarton
15
10
15


Dumfries
15
5
5


Dundee East
35
40
35


Dundee West
30
30
30


Dunfermline East
20
10
15


Dunfermline West
20
15
15


East Kilbride
20
20
30


East Lothian
15
10
15


Eastwood
10
20
15


Edinburgh Central
15
15
15


Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
10
10
10


Edinburgh North and Leith
25
25
20


Edinburgh Pentlands
15
15
15


Edinburgh South
15
20
10


Edinburgh West
15
15
10


Falkirk East
30
25
20


Falkirk West
20
25
20


Galloway and Upper Nithsdale
15
<5
<5


Glasgow Anniesland
30
25
20


Glasgow Baillieston
15
15
20


Glasgow Cathcart
25
35
25


Glasgow Govan
10
20
30


Glasgow Kelvin
25
15
25


Glasgow Maryhill
15
20
15


Glasgow Pollok
30
15
15


Glasgow Rutherglen
15
25
15


Glasgow Shettleston
20
25
20


Glasgow Springburn
20
20
30


Gordon
15
10
5


Greenock and Inverclyde
20
35
15


Hamilton North and Bellshill
15
25
15


Hamilton South
15
20
15


Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber
10
10
15


Kilmarnock and Loudoun
30
30
40


Kirkcaldy
20
15
15


Linlithgow
15
10
5


Livingston
15
15
30


Midlothian
20
20
10


Moray
25
20
15


Motherwell and Wishaw
25
20
20


North East Fife
25
20
15


North Tayside
15
15
20


Ochil
15
15
10


Orkney Islands
-
<5
-


Paisley North
35
25
25


Paisley South
30
30
30


Perth
10
20
15


Ross, Skye and Inverness West
15
20
20


Roxburgh and Berwickshire
<5
<5
5


Shetland Islands
<5
<5
-


Stirling
15
20
20


Strathkelvin and Bearsden
20
25
15


Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale
5
10
10


West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
15
15
15


West Renfrewshire
15
15
15


Western Isles
5
<5
<5



  Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS)

  1. Student numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest five: e.g. one, two round to zero; three, four round to five.

  2. Cells containing less than five cases are represented by "<5".

  3. Cells containing zero cases are represented by a dash.

  4. Students with postcodes which are missing or which do not match with those of the geographical breakdown show are included in the "Not found/missing" category.

  Table 8: Number of students receiving Lone Parents’ Childcare Grant by Scottish Parliamentary Region – Academic Years 2006-07 to 2008-09

  

Scottish Parliament Region
Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Childcare Grant


2006-07
2007-08
2008-09


Total
1,415
1,375
1,285


Not found/missing
20
25
35


Central Scotland
245
245
245


Glasgow
205
215
215


Highlands and Islands
65
65
65


Lothians
145
150
130


Mid Scotland and Fife
175
170
160


North East Scotland
200
175
155


South of Scotland
145
120
105


West of Scotland
210
210
175



  Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS)

  1. Student numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest five: e.g. one, two round to zero; three, four round to five.

  2. Cells containing less than five cases are represented by "<5".

  3. Cells containing zero cases are represented by a dash.

  4. Students with postcodes which are missing or which do not match with those of the geographical breakdown show are included in the "Not found/missing" category.

  Table 9: Number of students receiving Lone Parents’ Childcare Grant by Local Authority – Academic Years 2006-2007 to 2008-2009

  

Local Authority
Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Childcare Grant


2006-07
2007-08
2008-09


Total
1,415
1,375
1,285


Not found/missing
20
25
35


Aberdeen City
60
40
40


Aberdeenshire
45
35
30


Angus
30
30
30


Argyll and Bute
10
5
10


Clackmannanshire
10
5
10


Dumfries and Galloway
30
10
10


Dundee City
65
70
65


East Ayrshire
35
40
45


East Dunbartonshire
25
30
20


East Lothian
20
15
15


East Renfrewshire
10
20
15


City of Edinburgh
95
95
80


Eilean Siar
5
<5
<5


Falkirk
50
50
40


Fife
120
100
95


Glasgow City
195
195
205


Highland
25
35
40


Inverclyde
30
35
25


Midlothian
20
25
15


Moray
25
20
15


North Ayrshire
65
60
50


North Lanarkshire
120
110
110


Orkney Islands
-
<5
-


Perth and Kinross
30
30
25


Renfrewshire
75
70
60


Scottish Borders
10
10
10


Shetland Islands
<5
<5
-


South Ayrshire
30
30
30


South Lanarkshire
70
85
65


Stirling
15
30
20


West Dunbartonshire
40
35
30


West Lothian
30
25
35



  Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS)

  1. Student numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest five: e.g. one, two round to zero; three, four round to five.

  2. Cells containing less than five cases are represented by "<5".

  3. Cells containing zero cases are represented by a dash.

  4. Students with postcodes which are missing or which do not match with those of the geographical breakdown show are included in the "Not found/missing" category.

  Table 10: Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Childcare Grant by Westminster Parliamentary Constituency – Academic Years 2006-07 to 2008-09

  

Westminster Parliamentary Constituency
Number of Students Receiving Lone Parents’ Childcare Grant


2006-07
2007-08
2008-09


Total
1,415
1,375
1,285


Not found/missing
20
25
35


Aberdeen North
40
25
20


Aberdeen South
20
15
15


Airdrie and Shotts
30
25
20


Angus
20
20
25


Argyll and Bute
10
5
10


Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock
25
20
20


Banff and Buchan
25
15
15


Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
5
5
10


Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
<5
<5
5


Central Ayrshire
35
35
30


Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
30
25
30


Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
40
40
40


Dumfries and Galloway
20
5
5


Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
15
10
5


Dundee East
45
40
35


Dundee West
35
40
35


Dunfermline and West Fife
25
20
20


East Dunbartonshire
15
20
15


East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow
20
20
30


East Lothian
20
15
15


East Renfrewshire
10
20
15


Edinburgh East
15
10
10


Edinburgh North and Leith
25
25
25


Edinburgh South
15
20
15


Edinburgh South West
20
20
20


Edinburgh West
15
15
15


Falkirk
35
35
25


Glasgow Central
30
30
40


Glasgow East
20
25
25


Glasgow North
20
25
15


Glasgow North East
25
25
35


Glasgow North West
35
25
35


Glasgow South
25
40
35


Glasgow South West
30
25
25


Glenrothes
40
40
40


Gordon
15
10
10


Inverclyde
30
35
25


Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
15
20
25


Kilmarnock and Loudoun
30
35
40


Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
25
20
20


Lanark and Hamilton East
25
30
15


Linlithgow and East Falkirk
25
25
25


Livingston
20
15
30


Midlothian
20
25
15


Moray
25
20
15


Motherwell and Wishaw
35
30
25


Na h-Eileanan an Iar
5
<5
<5


North Ayrshire and Arran
45
40
35


North East Fife
30
20
15


Ochil and South Perthshire
15
10
15


Orkney and Shetland
<5
<5
-


Paisley and Renfrewshire North
30
25
25


Paisley and Renfrewshire South
45
40
40


Perth and North Perthshire
20
25
20


Ross, Skye and Lochaber
5
10
5


Rutherglen and Hamilton West
25
30
20


Stirling
15
30
20


West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
15
15
15


West Dunbartonshire
40
35
30



  Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS)

  1. Student numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest five: e.g. one, two round to zero; three, four round to five.

  2. Cells containing less than five cases are represented by "<5".

  3. Cells containing zero cases are represented by a dash.

  4. Students with postcodes which are missing or which do not match with those of the geographical breakdown show are included in the "Not found/missing" category.

Weather

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what communications it has had with Fife Council since December 2009 regarding contingency planning for severe weather.

Kenny MacAskill: Since December 2009, the Scottish Government has been in regular contact with all of Scotland’s 32 local authorities concerning severe weather planning.

  I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-30499 on 18 January 2010 and to the answer to question S3W-30622 on 20 January 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Parliamentary Expenditure

Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how much it has been spent on bottled water in each year since 1999.

Alex Johnstone: Since we introduced tap water as an option, consumption of bottled water has fallen significantly at Parliament. The SPCB only provides bottled water for meetings including committees and the Debating Chamber. We have provided costs from 2003, as we no longer hold records of bottled water purchased prior to this year. To be helpful and to provide more accurate comparison we have included the number of bottles consumed, as the price of bottled water increases year-on-year.

  

 
Total Costs
330ml Bottles
1 Litre Bottles


2003
£2,086.61
4,744
1,229


2004
£4,265.82
10,051
2,155


2005
£5,738.60
11,996
3,064


2006
£8,889.51
23,640
2,666


2007
£6,707.20
13,430
2,916


2008
£7,784.85
19,209
1,647


2009
£7,086.10
16,583
1,221



  In September 2009 we introduced tap water as an option to the rear of the Debating Chamber and for committee meetings. As a result, bottled water consumption fell by 21% for 330ml bottles and 41% for one litre bottles when compared to the corresponding months in 2008.

  

 
2008
2009


330ml Bottles
1 Litre Bottles
330ml Bottles
1 Litre Bottles


September
2,308
161
1,826
111


October
1,231
214
1,171
105


November
1,824
148
1,345
88


December
1,531
86
1,132
55


Total
6,894
609
5,474
359

Transport

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it plans to develop a sustainable travel policy and, if so, what the process will be for developing it.

Alex Fergusson: The SPCB will undertake a travel to work survey before the end of April 2010. The results of this survey and information being collected on parliamentary travel will be used to determine if the SPCB’s Travel Plan (2006) needs to be updated. It will also be used to determine if it would be beneficial to supplement the sustainable travel objectives of the SPCB’s environmental policy with a dedicated policy on sustainable travel.